If you want the behind the scenes on how to take 200 frankenputers, and turn them in to working machines worthy of donation -- all in one afternoon -- you'll enjoy this interview. Ken is the Jedi Knight of LAP.

As you know I haven't been posting jobs on GeekAustin recently. However, RGM Advisors is a great local company, there are a lot of database folks who read GA, and this is the easiest way to get the word out.

RGM Advisors is seeking a Senior Database Developer to join the Post Execution Group who will be responsible for the development of their trade reconciliation system. The Senior Database Developer will also be responsible for generating P&L reports, data analytics, systems performance monitoring, SQL programming, BI tool administration, automated work-flow process design, ETL tool design and development and leading and mentoring a small team of data analysts. They are looking for someone with the following requirements: At least 5 years of experience in database design and development, Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical discipline, SQL and PL-SQL Programming, Data Warehousing (Dimensional Modeling), ETL design and development, BI Administration. If you are skilled at Shell, perl or python scripting, they'll considered icing on the cake.

RGM has a great new office with a 360 view of the city. I have several friends who work there and they all speak highly of the firm. You can get more details about the position at the RGM Advisors Career Center.

You may have noticed the lack of posts on GeekAustin recently. Pretty much the everyone associated with GeekAustin has been helping launch Linux Against Poverty.

With the help of our local partners at The HeliOS Project, we acquired about 200 computers for central Texas children. If you count the month leading up to the event, the number is probably closer to 300 -- because Ken distributed many computers before the event. The Linux Against Poverty project will continue, but we managed to get it off the ground. Many folks contributed to make the first install fest a success. The folks at RGM Advisors picked up the tab for the tables, chairs, and other fixtures necessary to create an ad hoc computer workshop. RGM also provided a buffet spread for the volunteers. Fresh food came out every thirty minutes all day long. Greg Bodle opened Union Park 7 hours early, brought the kitchen staff in, let us completely tear his club up, and didn't charge us a penny. To help ensure that the volunteers were suitably caffeinated, Brad Bannister from RedBull came by with two barrels full of cans on ice. Ken Starks and Tom King of HeliOS assembled a team of total tech badasses who literally took a truckload of frankenputers and transformed them into usable machines. So many people were instrumental in making this happen -- not least of which the folks who donated computers.

The event wiped me out, but now I'm recovered. Good thing too, because DrupalCamp Austin is coming up in less than 60 days.

I have several interviews/articles almost ready to post on GeekAustin. However, most of my time for the rest of the month will be devoted to the Linux Against Poverty install fest. We have over 50 volunteers ready to go. What we need now are more computers! We currently have a little more than 100 computers ready to refurbish and donate. We could use 150 more. Ken and the Helios team already have homes for these as soon as they are ready. If you have spare computers that meet the requirements, please consider donating them to Linux Against Poverty. We have several convenient dropoff locations around town. If you have quantity, we'll be happy to pick them up. We can provide tax receipts as well. Large donations will also come with free ad space on GeekAustin.

While I'm on the topic of Linux Against Poverty, I'd like to give a special thanks to the folks at RGM Advisors. In addition to providing food and beverages for all the volunteers, they'll be picking up the tab for all the chairs and work tables we'll be bringing into the event. If your company is interested in supporting Linux Against Poverty, send me a note at lynnbender@geekaustin.org.

Lot's of interesting Drupal things going on in town. This Wednesday night, we'll be hosting a Drupal install party at Union Park. It's another evening of Drinks and Drupal. We'll be assisting with both local and remote installs. On Wednesday, July 29, there will be a presentation on Drupal UX & The Client at the ACTlab. Thanks to Lauren Roth for putting this together -- and thanks to Dustin and Joey for helping to secure the the ACTlab.

To break the monotony of all the Drupal posts, I'll have a few C++ stories in the next week.

Jason Cohen and the folks at SmartBear came of with a stimulus package of their own. Anyone (even a big company) can buy a 5-seat license of Code Reviewer for $5 any day this week. This week only! This is a full version. Nothing is disabled; you get full support and upgrades for a year. All the proceeds will be donated to... a worthy startup! Jason says: "There's a few finalists right now so we're not sure who it will be yet, but it will go to a struggling startup, not our bank account." More details here. Remember: this week only!

After seeing her work for a while, I finally got to meet Lauren Roth at the Drinks and Drupal party I hosted in May. I took the opportunity to ask her how one becomes a Drupal design ninja. Lauren was gracious enough to share the knowledge.

Lynn Bender: You first started with Drupal after seeing a presentation as SXSW, yes?

Lauren Roth: SXSW Interactive is a fantastic way to come upon new technologies and 2006’s was no exception. As someone with a writing background, I could understand having enthusiasm for a content management system, but the more I found out about Drupal the more I wanted to use it myself. It is now my primary development platform.

Lynn Bender: In the last year, I've noticed that many folks who've been designing sites in WordPress are starting to look at Drupal. I'm guessing that you've noticed this too.

Lauren Roth: WordPress is the grilled cheese sandwich to Drupal’s double-stacked club sandwich. Both have bread and cheese, but Drupal comes with lots of extra delicious parts. Both are written in PHP, use template files and CSS, and separate presentation from site logic.

Lynn Bender: Nevertheless, a common complaint I heard is that Drupal is extremely difficult to design for. What are the things that people tend to have problems with when beginning to design themes for Drupal?

I've had a fascination with all manner of data analysis since my days as a bookstore owner. So when I first heard news of a local web analytics group, I had more than a little interest. I asked Jennifer White, the chief instigator of Web Analytics Wednesdays Austin, to give me a little background on the group.

Lynn Bender:: Jennifer, tell me about the group.

Jennifer White: Web Analytics Wednesday is the world's only social networking event for web analytics professionals. Eric T. Peterson, an author and a global web analytics community leader, founded Web Analytics Wednesday as a global effort to put "faces with names" and to get local members of the web analytics community networking. I started the Austin group in 2 years ago in July.

The local group focuses mainly on web analytics, but we also talk about analytics for other media such as Twitter or search, but those tie back to web analytics. For example, how does Twitter influence bounce rate (which is when a visitor comes to only one of your web pages and leaves the site immediately)?

Lynn Bender:: What about non web data -- like email? Are e-mail response rates, direct mail campaign data, sales and lead information also part of web analytics?

Last weeks Drinks and Drupal party, co-hosted by GeekAustin and Four Kitchens was a whole lot of fun. Expect more in the future. I promise I'll try to keep the Drupal posts to one a week. This post doesn't count toward that.

The Austin.Javascript LinkedIn group is continuing to grow. Kyle Simpson and Joe McCann are bringing in a range of speakers for the monthly meetings. If you want to get up to speed on the latest Javascript libraries, this is the group to meet.

If your looking for something closer to the Discovery Channel with beer, check out Nerd Nite Austin. To accommodate the crowd, they've moved the event to Buffalo Billiards. Att tomorrow's event, Dr. Jonas Moses will demonstrate how bio-medical innovation happens (or doesn't) in his presentation "The Accidental Innovator", JC Dwyer will explain how arcane politics become modern social policy in "From the Black Plague to the Bread Line", and Philip Wheat will ponder what happens when everything around you gets smart in "Bits & Atoms - the rise of Smart Environments." -- with beer.

<understatement>Four Kitchens is one of the premier Drupal consulting firms</understatement>. Fortunately, they call Austin home. In the last few months, I've had the opportunity to work with and get to know them. Aaron Stanush, one of Four Kitchen's co-founders, is also a member of the Drupal.org Redesign Team. I recently coerced him into meeting me for coffee and talking about Drupal.

Lynn Bender: Following your trip to Paris to work on the upgrade and redesign of the Drupal.org, you took the lead on the redesign effort. That's a massive site. How is the process going?

Aaron Stanush: One of the things that really helped focus the redesign effort was that we had an actual style guide to work off of. The Drupal Association hired Mark Boulton Design to rebrand the Drupal product as well as the drupal.org website. Even with a rich style guide, it's a massive site and it takes awhile for the community to decide the best way to re-engineer the content/layout or to remove elements all together.

Quick and maintainable site-building for charities and non-profits using Drupal and CiviCRM

We've reserved our home base, Union Park Austin, for Wednesday, May 20. We'll have drinks out front and presentations in back. We've been sending personal invites to Drupalistas throughout Texas. So, if you have any unanswered Drupal questions, this will be the place to find the answers.

For a while, I was afraid that I wouldn't make my own party. Cedar Fever had pretty much knocked me out, but after a few benedryl and an afternoon nap, I was ready to go.

A few hours before the party, crack photographer to the Austin tech scene, Eugene Hsu (@heuge) contacted me to let me know that he was a victim of allergies as well -- and wouldn't be making the party. This threw me into a bit of a panic. Although Michael Cummings (@michaelcummings) would be shooting headshots in the Boom Boom Room, we had made no arrangements to have someone shoot the party; and if no one shoots the party, it's like it never happened -- right?

When I saw the initial RSVPs for the party, it looked like a who's who of Austin's twitterati. Since my co-host, Tom Serres of Piryx, got tickets to the big inaugural ball in DC, we decided to hold an Austin-DC tweetup -- a party within a party. Tom, who had mentioned the party several times during his interview with CNN, would be co-hosting from the ball in DC, and Omar Gallaga (@omarg)would co-host from Austin. We'd set up TweetDeck on the roof, so we could all communicate via hashtags (#enaug09). Tom and I originally wanted to have a qikcast along with the tweetcast, but didn't get everything configured in time. In fact, nothing went according to plan. Fortunately, Ricardo Guerrero (ggroovin) came through, at the last minute, with a TweetDeck-configured laptop and projector -- and we were good to go!.

This being an inaugural party, Mayor Pro Tem Brewster McCracken stopped in to say hello and wish us well.

Tweetup co-host Omar Gallaga with Caroline Valentine. Omar covered covered the party in his column So did Michael Barnes. Michael mentioned that he was surprised people recognized him. Heh. I've been reading his column for longer than I can remember. Sorry I didn't get to meet him.

Although I left at 10:30, the party went on for several hours more. However, by the time I left, it was already getting pretty crazy. If that sofa could talk.

I want to say a special thanks to everyone who helped make the party happen: Greg at Union Park, Whurley, Michelle, Tom Serres and Piryx, Michael Cummings, Omar Gallaga, Ricardo ggroovin Guerrero, April Kyle, Heather Frankovis, Adelle Rodriguez, Vanessa Avila, Mary Abshier of Panjoma, Nardo Nardolicious of Le Ren, Sky, and all the folks who came out. It was a blast.

I met Jim Hillhouse back in 2002, when he showed up at one of the GeekAustin lunches. Over the last year, I've watched him help put Austin's iPhone dev community on everyone's radar. Last weekend, I ask Jim to share a bit about iPhone development, the Cocoa Coders group, and the Austin tech scene.

Lynn Bender: It was Whurley who first told me that we had a large iPhone dev community in Austin. I got to see that first hand last year at BarCampAustin III. How long has there been a formal group iPhone dev group in Austin?

As many of you know, because we have some new things coming up, the 8th Anniversary Bash was to be our last party for a while. I want to give a special thanks to RefreshAustin and the Austin Electronic Music Grid for co-hosting the party. Extra special thanks to Michelle Greer for introducing me to Union Park. This club keeps getting better and better.

De facto chronicler of Austin tech events, Eugene Hsu, dropped by to photograph the party. You can see his photo sets on facebook (photo set 1, photo set 2). I have been hosting parties for about 17 years now, and I have to tell you Eugene is one of the best. The Austin tech scene is fortunate to have this guy shooting the parties. When you see him, buy him a drink.

One of my favorite parts of the party was the music provided by the artists of the Austin Electronic Music Grid. At several points later in the evening, we had 3 different artists in three different rooms. (I hope you knew that the party was going on in 4 spaces.) Dubnautica started at 7:30 in the BoomBoom Room Refresh Lounge.

I recently read Paul Graham's essay on Cities and Ambition. It was a timely read, as I've been party to so many discussions regarding where Austin's tech community is, and where folks want it to be. People come to me at GeekAustin events saying "If we'd all get together, we could compete with Silicon Valley," or "Austin could be really great if only we'd....." All of these folks seem to believe that the Austin tech community needs to be sending some message, or whatever message we should be sending .... doesn't seem to be getting through. I wonder if the message the Austin tech community sends too often is one of envy.

According to Graham, Boston/Cambridge sends the message that you should be smarter. Silicon Valley sends the message that you should be more powerful. Then Graham makes the distinction that: "Power matters in New York too of course, but New York is pretty impressed by a billion dollars even if you merely inherited it. In Silicon Valley no one would care except a few real estate agents. What matters in Silicon Valley is how much effect you have on the world. " Of Berkeley, the city which Austin is most often compared to, Paul says that the message Berkeley sends is: "you should live better. Life in Berkeley is very civilized. It's probably the place in America where someone from Northern Europe would feel most at home. But it's not humming with ambition.". I'm not sure about the civilized part, but not humming with ambition certainly sounds like 78704.

Hardly a week goes by that I don't hear a friend say: "Should I stay in Austin? or move to the Valley." For these friends, the question is simply "Do I go where things are already happening? Or do I try to make things happen here?" Graham believes that cities are, primarily, collections of people; and people who do great things tend to gather in groups in a few places where great things are already happening. For some, the answer is easy, follow the message and move. For those who don't want to leave, you only need to look at what Cody Marx Bailey has done in Bryan/College Station for a compelling counterexample.

As many people as there are in the tech community saying that we need to band together and communicate with one voice, that together we can make Austin theEmerald City, there is a larger number who seem to believe Austin already approaches the Emerald City; and you only need to look at their bumper stickers to see what message they are trying to communicate: Keep Austin Weird.

Omar Gallaga is the author of the popular technology blog Digital Savant on austin360. I caught up with him on blogging, improv, and sneaking up on Sarah Lacy. You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/omarg.